1791.] THE MAHRATTA CAMP. 291 THE NEW ORIENTAL BANK CORPORATION, Limited. CAPITAL: rissala after rissala of these wild and hardy horsemen, and portable; and the English officers obtained AUTHORISED, £2,000,000; PAID UP, £500,000. CHRISTIAN DIRECTORS. ALLHUSEN, Esq., D.L., J.P., Director of the International Bank of London, Limited. LIONEL R. C. BOYLE, Esq., of Messrs. Boyle, Campbell, Buxton & Co., 80, Lombard Street, E.C. E. F. HARRISON, Esq.,O.S.I., formerly EDINBURGH: 23, ST. ANDREW'S SQUARE. THE RIGHT HON. THOS. CLARK, JOHN FALCONER, Esq. (of Messrs. AUSTRALIA CEYLON BRANCHES AND AGENCIES: JAFFNA JAPAN BADULLA COLOMBO BERLIN BOMBAY CALCUTTA CHINA The Bank receives money on deposit, buys and sells bills of exchange, makes telegraph transfers, issues letters of credit and circular notes, forwards bills for collection, and transacts banking and agency business generally. INTEREST ALLOWED ON DEPOSITS OF £10 AND UPWARDS. Fixed for 6 or 9 months.. 4 Fixed for 1 year certain.. Fixed for 2 years " Fixed for 3, 5, or 7 years Current Accounts opened and cheque books supplied. Interest at 2 per cent. per Pay and pensions drawn, insurance premiums, club subscriptions, and other periodical payments made at an uniform commission of per cent. Securities bought, sold, and received for safe custody from constituents of the bank. Interest and dividends collected. Drafts issued upon the Bank's Eastern Branches at current rates, free of commission. All necessary information and forms can be obtained by application to the Agency, after this, at ten at night, a sudden n and musketry in the camp of the used the whole British army to get n the supposition that an attack had y Tippoo; but it proved to be only on of one of their festivals, in which e new moon, on its first appearance. t days' halt, they refused to march on they deemed it unlucky; thus Lord d to defer to another day his retroent, which was made slowly towards ich he reached on the 11th of July. plans of operation were arranged; 44,000 was requested, and this Cornabled to advance on the part of the arresting in its transit an investment tined for China. Aided by a column oops, Purseram Bhow was to march a town of Mysore, but now a mere huts with a citadel, for the purpose of the north-west. Hurry Punt, Meer Tejewunt, were to remain with the eral, the former as commander of the wholesale and retail. Every variety of trade Mahrattas, and the two latter as the civic repreappeared to be exercised, with a large competition sentatives of the Nizam. Each was to be attended and considerable diligence; and, among them, one, by a body of cavalry, who were to take part in all apparently the least adapted to a wandering life-operations against Tippoo. the trade of a tanner-was practised with eminent success. A circular hole dug in the earth, a raw hide adapted to it at the bottom and sides, and secured above by a series of skewers, run through its edges into the earth, formed the tan-pit; on marching days the tan-pit, with its contents in the shape of a bag, formed one side of a load for a horse or bullock, and the liquid preparation was either emptied or preserved, according to the length or expected repetition of the march: the best tanning material (catechu) is equally accessible * Dirom's "Narrative of the Campaign." The army of our ally, the Nizam, had begun to assemble at Hyderabad, fully twelve months before this time, and had been joined by two sepoy battalions, under a Major Montgomery. The cavalry were rather indifferent; but the infantry, disciplined and commanded by a French soldier of fortune named Raymond, were infinitely better, though imperfectly armed and accoutred. These forces had begun their southern march, and after many delays had arrived at Rachore-a town in +"Historical Sketches of Southern India." CHAPTER LVII. JUNCTION WITH THE MAHRATTAS, AND THE RETREAT TO BANGALORE. of the enemy's capital impracticable until the conclusion of the ensuing monsoons, Lord Cornwallis thought he should make an ill return for the zeal and alacrity exhibited by the soldiers, if he desired them to draw the guns and stores back to a magazine where there remains an ample supply of both, which was captured by their valour; he did not hesitate to order the guns and stores, which were not wanted for field service, to be destroyed." HAD the cavalry of the Nizam-these motley troops | some time experienced, having rendered the attack whom Colonel Wilks has described-followed up the retreating Mysoreans with proper vigour, the battle of Carigat would have been even more decisive than it was; but now that the fight was won, our prospects became more than ever gloomy. By this time the draught bullocks had perished in such numbers, that the tumbrils and wagons of the army were, in many instances, dragged by the troops, and such a state of matters could not last long under the sun and rains of India. Thus Lord Cornwallis saw that the original scheme of the campaign must be abandoned; he made up his mind to fall back, and sent orders to General Abercromby, then within three days' march of Seringapatam, to retire with his column towards Malabar, and, meanwhile, made such preparations as the case seemed to require. The battering-train which, with such infinite labour, had been brought to the front, was destroyed. Thus three twentyfour and eight eighteen-pounders were burst, and the ammunition of them cast into wells; the twelvepounders alone were reserved; the stores were committed to the flames, only a slender stock being retained. General Abercromby obeyed his orders with great reluctance. He had, with some difficulty, brought his column, 8,000 strong, including the 77th Foot, a Highland brigade of the 73rd and 75th Regiments, with his battering-train, and a great supply of stores, over the rugged mountains and through the dense forests of the Ghauts. All this labour had been in vain, and now his troops, when hoping to make a dash at Seringapatam, had to retrace their steps amid the blinding rains of the monsoon. So, to march as light as possible, he too burst or spiked his guns, and left to the mercy of Tippoo his stores, including 1,000 bags of rice, for the starving troops of Cornwallis. After this, the Bombay column reached the coast in a sickly state, and destitute of cattle. Before his tents were struck, Lord Cornwallis issued the following general order, thanking the soldiers : "So long as there were any hopes of reducing Seringapatam before the commencement of the heavy rain, the Commander-in-chief thought himself happy in availing himself of their willing services; but the unexpected bad weather for This explanation was given, doubtless, lest heart should be lost by the army, which began its laborious retreat to Bangalore on the 26th of May, 1791; and, according to the description of Major E. Dirom, of the 52nd, the ground, on which "the army had encamped but six days, was covered, in a circuit of several miles, with the carcases of cattle and horses; and the last of the gun-carriages, carts, and stores of the battering-train left in flames, was a melancholy spectacle, which the troops passed as they quitted their deadly camp." The army had barely proceeded six miles, when the bugles of the advanced guard sounded an alarm, and a body of some 2,000 horse suddenly appeared, as if about to menace the baggage; and preparations were at once made for a resistance. A solitary horseman now came galloping forward, and, hailing a staff officer, announced that he was a Mahratta, and that those in sight were the advanced guard of two Mahratta armies, on the march to join Lord Cornwallis. The latter, who suspected that, notwithstanding treaties made, the Mahrattas had no intention of reinforcing him, had no idea that so near him now was the Poonah army under Hurry Punt, and another much more efficient one under Purseram Bhow, mustering in all 32,000 men, with thirty pieces of cannon. Of the approach of this large force he had been kept in total ignorance, by the active manner in which the regular communications had been interrupted by Tippoo's flying horsemen. This junction was a most fortunate event at that crisis, and some pedantic officer, in a letter to a print of the time, likens it to the appearance of Masinissa, the son of Gala, at the battle of Zama, in which Hannibal was defeated. The wants of the British army were now sup plied by the Mahrattas, but at extravagant prices; and great was the joy of our troops, when they saw 1791.] THE MAHRATTA CAMP. 291 rissala after rissala of these wild and hardy horsemen, and portable; and the English officers obtained come drifting up like clouds against the horizon, from these ambulatory tan-pits what their own brandishing their swords, shaking their long lances, Indian capitals could not then produce except as and caracoling their well-fed chargers. "The chiefs European imports-excellent sword-belts." + themselves, and, indeed, all the Mahrattas in their On the 27th, the day after the junction with the suite," says the deputy adjutant-general, "were Mahrattas, Tippoo, who had now become anxious remarkably plain, but neat in their appearance. to negotiate, sent in a flag of truce accompanied by Mild in their aspect, humane in their disposition, numerous officials, a bushel of fruit, and a letter in polite and unaffected in their address, they are dis- Persian; both of which were sent back next day, tinguished by obedience to their chiefs, and attach- with a missive to the effect that the British would ment to their country. There were not to be seen agree to no treaty of peace that did not include among them those fantastic figures in armour, so their allies; that if Tippoo meant to treat, he must common among the Mohammedans in the Nizam's, first deliver up all British subjects who were or, as they style themselves, the Mogul army; prisoners in his hands; that the fruit was returned, adventurers, collected from every quarter of the not as an insult, but as a sign that all friendly East, who, priding themselves on individual valour, intercourse was declined.‡ think it beneath them to be useful but on the day of battle, and when that comes, prove only the inefficiency of numbers, unconnected with any general principle of union or discipline."* A few days after this, at ten at night, a sudden fire of cannon and musketry in the camp of the Mahrattas, caused the whole British army to get under arms, in the supposition that an attack had been made by Tippoo; but it proved to be only the celebration of one of their festivals, in which they salute the new moon, on its first appearance. After an eight days' halt, they refused to march on the ninth, as they deemed it unlucky; thus Lord Cornwallis had to defer to another day his retrograde movement, which was made slowly towards Bangalore, which he reached on the 11th of July. For a description of the bazaar which they set up in the camp of our famished soldiers, we cannot do better than quote the words of another officer, Colonel Mark Wilks, who says that there were exhibited for sale the spoils of the East and the industry of the West-"from a web of English broadcloth to a Birmingham penknife-from the shawls of Cashmere to the second-hand garment of a Hindoo | -from diamonds of the first water to the silver En route, plans of operation were arranged; ear-ring of a poor, plundered village maiden-from a loan of £144,000 was requested, and this Cornoxen, sheep, and poultry, to the dried salt fish of wallis was enabled to advance on the part of the Concan almost everything was to be seen, that Company, by arresting in its transit an investment could be presented by the best bazaars of the of money destined for China. Aided by a column richest towns; but, above all, the tables of the of Bombay troops, Purseram Bhow was to march money-changers, overspread with the coins of every by Sera, then a town of Mysore, but now a mere country of the East, in the open air and public collection of huts with a citadel, for the purpose of street of the camp, gave evidence of an extent of operating in the north-west. Hurry Punt, Meer mercantile activity, utterly inconceivable in any Alum, and Tejewunt, were to remain with the camp, except that of systematic plunderers, by Governor-General, the former as commander of the wholesale and retail. Every variety of trade Mahrattas, and the two latter as the civic repreappeared to be exercised, with a large competition sentatives of the Nizam. Each was to be attended and considerable diligence; and, among them, one, by a body of cavalry, who were to take part in all apparently the least adapted to a wandering life-operations against Tippoo. the trade of a tanner-was practised with eminent success. A circular hole dug in the earth, a raw hide adapted to it at the bottom and sides, and secured above by a series of skewers, run through its edges into the earth, formed the tan-pit; on marching days the tan-pit, with its contents in the shape of a bag, formed one side of a load for a horse or bullock, and the liquid preparation was either emptied or preserved, according to the length or expected repetition of the march: the best tanning material (catechu) is equally accessible * Dirom's "Narrative of the Campaign." The The army of our ally, the Nizam, had begun to +"Historical Sketches of Southern India." the province of Bejapoor, pleasantly situated on the Kistna; and having no fear of interruption, on learning that Tippoo was occupied about Coimbatore, on the 28th of October, they had invested Capool, about 100 miles distant from him. The infantry of Raymond and our artillery did good service here, but the blunders of the Nizam's general, or his ignorance of attacking a fortified place, caused the siege to be protracted till April, 1791, when the place fell by capitulation. Now that he was accompanied by the plenipotentiaries, Meer Alum and Tejewunt, and the Mahratta chief, Lord Cornwallis, provided the wounded and other prisoners were released, was by no means disinclined to treat with Tippoo, and even intimated—should that formidable personage desire it-that he would consent to a cessation of hostilities, as a preliminary; but, in proportion as the allies became conciliatory, the sultan waxed bold and more exacting; thus, after the Governor-General had actually conceded the point of written proposals and a conference of deputies at Bangalore, the former declined all terms, unless the British army was marched to the frontier. Tippoo, meanwhile, had secretly been making similar advances to the Mahrattas and the Nizam, in hopes, by stirring up jealousy, to dissolve the alliance; so Lord Cornwallis saw that there was nothing to be done but to take the field at the earliest suitable season. He strained every nerve, says Mr. Gleig, to recruit the losses of his army, and to supply those deficiencies under which it had hitherto laboured ; and was thus compelled to exercise an unusual but necessary control over the revenues of the Company. Through the agency of Captain Read, he opened a negotiation with the Brinjarries, a caste of ambulatory merchants, who supply the armies of the native princes with grain. He also directed that the China ships should be stripped of their treasures, elephants, cattle, and carriage, and that all should be forwarded to Madras. Nor were minor military operations forgotten; for he captured several forts, chiefly important in consequence of their situation as commanding the passes through the Ghauts, which had been previously closed; these were thus opened up; while the troops of the Mahrattas and Nizam, to straiten Tippoo, over-ran all the districts hitherto spared, cutting off such garrisons as they found themselves able to reduce.* And in these operations, and preparations for a fresh attack on Tippoo, the summer of 1791 passed away. CHAPTER LVIII. THIRD CAMPAIGN AGAINST TIPPOO-STORMING OF NUNDYDROOG, SAVANDROOG, ETC.-MR. FRANCIS'S MOTION IN PARLIAMENT LOST. Rich foliage IT was on the 15th of July, 1791, that Lord | fertility, and careful cultivation. crowned the knolls and hill tops, as the ground Detached from the main army, the 7th Brigade of Infantry, under Major Gowdie, H.E.I.C.S., advanced to Ossoor, which the enemy abandoned at his approach, after unsuccessfully attempting to blow up the works; thus a large store of grain and powder rewarded the march of the major, prior to whose arrival, the whole of the British prisoners in the place had been murdered in cold blood, by the express order of Tippoo, notwithstanding that mercy for them was solicited by the killedar and inhabitants. By the end of September, 28,000 bullocks were * "British Military Commanders." 1791.1 COLONEL HAMILTON MAXWELL. supplied in the Carnatic for the use of our army; and this fact, with other indications that we were in earnest, though greatly alarming Tippoo, only added fear to his hate, and made him resolve to put all to the issue of the sword. During the autumn, our troops were employed in several directions, north-east of Bangalore, reducing various hill-forts, and thus destroying Tippoo's communications between the country and Seringapatam. The country of Mysore has many isolated rocks or hills, which, when fortified, are styled droogs (a term synonymous with the Celtic dun), and those are the natural bulwarks of the land. Of those, one of the chief was Nundydroog, thirty-one miles eastward of Bangalore. It consisted of several lines of defence, occupying the summit of a granite mountain, 1,700 feet in height, overlooking a vast extent of almost level country, and fortified with such care as to make regular approaches necessary. Inaccessible on every point, except one, the rock was crowned by a double line of ramparts; a third had been recently commenced, and an outwork covered the gate by a flanking fire. The general aspect of the whole place was most formidable. droog, however high and steep, was still approachYet Nundyable; but not without immense fatigue in dragging up guns, and the construction of batteries, on the face of the rocky mass. The command of this place had been entrusted to Lutif Ali Bey, a Mysorean officer of great merit and courage. Major Gowdie, with his brigade and some battering-guns, after capturing the little town, attempted the reduction of the fort on the 27th of September; while, to intimidate the garrison, Cornwallis encamped his whole army within four miles of the place. After fourteen days of incessant labour, batteries were got into operation. and in twenty-one days two practicable breaches were effected-one on the re-entering angle of the outwork, and another in the curtain of the outer wall. The inner was beyond reach of shot. On the 19th of October the assault was ordered to take place that night, when both breaches were to be stormed. "The attack was to be led by Lieutenant Hugh Mackenzie, with twenty grenadiers of the 36th Regiment and 71st Highlanders, on the right; and on the left by Lieutenant Moore, with twenty light company-men, and the Highland flank companies--the whole under Captain James Robertson (son of the Scottish historian), supported by Captain Robert (afterwards General) Burns, with the grenadiers, and Captain W. Hartley, with the light company of the 36th Regiment; while General Medows by his presence and example 293 encouraged all. It is related that while the brilliant; thus every object was discernible as at The next attempt was made on Kistnagherry-a height, 114 miles eastward of Seringapatam. On fortress situated on a rock 700 feet in perpendicular the 7th of November, Colonel H. Maxwell, of the 74th Highlanders, with a detachment, attempted its reduction. lower fort by escalade, and attempted to reach the Sword in hand, he carried the upper, by entering it along with the fugitives. So nearly were his soldiers succeeding that they tore down a standard that was flying on the gateway; yet enormous masses of granite, showered down by a garrison that far out-numbered them, compelled place, with all the province, was ceded to Britain, a speedy retreat; but in the following year, the when the fortifications were destroyed. ultimate capture of the sultan's capital, had resolved Lord Cornwallis, keeping steadily in view the stronghold that might intercept his own line of on the complete reduction of every intermediate communications; and by far the most formidable of these in Mysore was Savandroog, which is situated on the summit of an immense and almost inaccessible rock, and is surrounded by a thick jungly bamboo wood, which renders its locality very unhealthy. * General Stewart, vol. ii. |